Prolific writer, passionate activist, dedicated
scholar and pioneering feminist, Esther Broner indelibly shaped modern
Jewish history, and yet, most people have never heard of her. In the
mid-1970s, as the women’s rights movement was vastly changing society’s
views on gender and equality, Broner created a radical new Haggadah (the
book of readings for a Passover seder service) for a new era, one that,
while maintaining Jewish culture and rituals, shifted the focus onto
women, transforming the traditional Passover service into a powerful
reclamation of women’s lives and stories. What followed in 1975 was the
first feminist women’s seder, which began as a small gathering to
celebrate Passover with Broner as their leader and would blossom into a
movement. One of the founding members of the seder, director/producer
Lilly Rivlin (Grace Paley: Collected Shorts, SFJFF 2010) documents
Broner’s rich and engaged political and spiritual life with archival
photos, video footage from the seders themselves and interviews with
Broner’s closest friends and original “seder mothers” such as Ms.
magazine founder Gloria Steinem and congresswoman Bella Abzug. Woven
together with Broner’s own moving words, this documentary is both an
inspiring portrait of a feminist trailblazer and a testament to her
legacy which has helped empower generations of Jewish women around the
world. — Alissa Chadburn

In the opening moments of “Grace Paley: Collected
Shorts”, Paley rhetorically asks an audience, “What is
the responsibility of a poet?” We soon learn that Grace
Paley answered that question emphatically throughout her
entire life.

Lilly Rivlin’s inspiring film brings to life the
momentous times in which this author and activist lived
and worked as she reads from her short stories, poems
and essays. Paley was a firebrand on the front line of
protest. She opposed war and nuclear proliferation, and
fought for the rights of women, which often landed her
in jail. As a teacher she influences generations of
writers. Grace Paley is a New York icon whose life
attests to the possibility that one person can combine
public responsibility with individual creativity. Paley
not only broke the mold, she created a new approach to
her life’s work that combined equal parts writer,
activist, woman and mother.

In “Grace Paley: Collected Shorts” we learn the story
of this child of Russian-Jewish immigrants, raised in
New York City in the 1930s. We hear from her daughter,
granddaughter and a wide range of fellow writers and
activists. We also hear many of Grace Paley’s own words,
the greatest joy of Rivlin’s revealing film. (David
Becker)